January 29, 2013: Church leaders have accused Chief Minister of India’s Gujarat state,
Narendra Modi of deliberately aiming to create dissent between Hindus and Christians.
This
follows his appearance at an Indian Republic Day celebration on January 26 at Ahwa,
the capital of the Dangs district of Gujarat, which is mostly populated by tribal
Christians.
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is "feeling politically threatened
in the tribal areas with substantial Christian populations and they are trying to
Hinduize the whole area," said Father Cedric Prakash who directs a human rights center
in the state's business capital, Ahmedabad.
He told ucanews.com on Sunday that
though Modi did not make any controversial speech at the event, it was a subtle strategy
to widen the base of his pro-Hindu party.
Modi attended several other functions
over the weekend, including a meeting of the Swami Vivekananda Yuva Parishad youth
group. The state government launched the group to promote the ideals of Swami Vivekananda,
a 19th century Hindu revivalist.
"It was a calculated move by Modi
to go to the Dangs. He will try to pit Christians and tribal people against each other,"
said Fr Xavier Manjooran, who provides legal help to tribal people against their exploitation
by private and government agencies.
During the December 2012 state elections,
BJP candidates were defeated in the Dangs and neighboring Dharampur, mainly because
of the tribal Christian vote.
The Dangs district witnessed anti-Christian attacks
in 1998 and again in February 2006, when local politician Swami Aseemanand organized
a program for the re-conversion of tribal Christians.
Aseemanand has since
been jailed, but Fr Manjooran believes that Modi wants to revive the program under
the guise of a plan to develop religious tourism.
Indian states normally hold
Republic Day and Independence Day programs in their capital cities. But Modi has introduced
a system in which they are held in different districts on a rotation basis.